MG Motor has got an uphill task. Of going up against the Hyundai Kona EV. MG’s soldier for this is the new ZS EV. The MG ZS EV was unveiled a few months ago and is coming to India in the same form. The India unveil is happening on December 5, 2019. This will be much on the same lines as the Hector unveil. Bookings will start shortly thereafter with the vehicle launch sometime in February 2020. We expect MG to price the ZS EV at around Rs 20 lakh here. The electric SUV will be initially sold in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The company has already started setting up electric chargers at its dealerships here.
The MG ZS EV, its India-spec will be revealed on December 5, is likely to have a higher capacity motor. This 150hp electric motor will derive power from a 44.5kWh lithium-ion battery. It is expected that in the Indian cycle, this powertrain should provide more than 330km range. MG is expected to provide a fast charger and a regular AC unit. The fast charger should give 80 per cent charge in less than an hour while the regular one should take around 7-8 hours. In contrast, the Hyundai Kona electric takes a good 15 hours on a regular charger.
Outside, the MG ZS EV looks almost the same as the Kona, a pseudo-SUV. It seems more hatchback. The company is billing the ZS EV as the first internet-enabled electric SUV in India. The car is likely to have the same touchscreen infotainment system as the Hector, with the artificial intelligence assistant on standby all the time. Space wise, expect the car to have the same cabin opulence as the Kona while scoring big on the features front. We’ve recently driven the Kona electric and found it to be quite a competent car. Watch out for our road test of the same.
